Mr. Meinzen - Advanced Placement Computer Science - A

Advice from previous students to current students

• Answers to: If you could start AP Computer Science A over again, what advice would you give yourself?

  1. If you don't know programming (or didn't learn it very well), let Mr. M know...he CAN help you catch up but only if you ask.
  2. When copying code from TextPad or BlueJ to MS Word, always set the font to "Courier New" BEFORE pasting your code into an MS Word document.
  3. DON'T : procrastinate...it leads to stress, stealing of code, and lack of understanding...what seems simple is NOT.
  4. DON'T : be shy about asking questions. Mr. M might be a bit goofy but he knows what he is talking about.
  5. DO : get name & number of classmate.
  6. DO : use stackoverflow website...tons of tips and tricks.
  7. Confusing Topics : memory maps, inheritance, pointers.
  8. Watch out for "Bad Boss" assignment...you have to learn to ask good questions.

• Answers to: What was your favorite part of the course?

  •  

    Mr. M's sense of humor (or lack of humor).

• Answers to: What was the hardest/least favorite part of the course?

  • Avoiding too much "help" from fellow students...it is very tempting to just "get the answers" from other without actually learning the material through my own efforts.

  • Mr. M's "bad professor" assignment.

Schedules : Day-based & Week-based

• Monday - Tuesday & Thursday - Friday Day-based schedule : 54-minute class periods	Wednesday (PLC day) Day-based schedule : 44-minute class periods
  7:15 - 8:15am : Trigonometry / PreCalculus [6 minutes for announcements if in-school] 8:21 - 9:15am : Java & Honors Java Programming / AP CSP 9:21 - 10:15am : AP CSA 10:15 - 10:45am : A Lunch 10:51 - 11:45am : Prep 11:51 - 12:45pm : Trigonometry / PreCalculus 12:51 - 1:45pm : Java & Honors Java Programming 1:50 - 2:40pm : Office Hours in A314 Mon, Tue, Fri	7:15 - 8:05am : Trigonometry / PreCalculus [6 minutes for announcements if in-school] 8:11 - 8:55am : Java & Honors Java Programming / AP CSP 9:01 - 9:45am : AP CSA 9:51 - 10:35am : Prep 10:35 - 11:05am : Lunch 11:11 - 11:55am : Trigonometry / PreCalculus 12:01 - 12:45pm : Java & Honors Java 12:45 - 2:40pm : PLC for Teachers (no office hours)

• Week-based schedule (if needed):

• Option 2: Hybrid Learning : 2-3 days per week : one (or two) in-person meetings (i.e. "A" and "B" Days) and

  1 day remote.

• Option 3 : Remote Learning : 3-5 days per week from home

TextBook & Resources :

• Data Structures & Problem Solving using Java, 2nd Ed., Mark Alan Weiss CR1

• The classroom has desktop computers for each student and internet access. In addtion, students must bring their school-issued laptop fully charged each day..

• Critical Student Skills for success in AP CSA :

  • Student integrity and honesty is a must. Understanding the consequences--both short-term and long-terrm--of student choices has impacts both on the student themself as well as society as a whole.

  • While a book may be assigned, excellent note-taking is expected. The notes are published both in Schoology and and Mr. Meinzen's website (www.meinzeit.com)

  • The ability to ask "clarifying" questions is a critical skill in this class. The teacher's "answer" depends greatly on how you phrase your question. Two students who ask similar questions may receive completely different responses due to the precise nature of computer languages.

  • Another critical skill is the ability to work and communicate ideas/concepts with other students and your teacher. Many assignments will require teamwork in order to accomplish an assignment.

Policy : Grading

• Assessments : scores & grades

  • 2 types of assessments will be given in this course : non-graded formative scores (i.e. completion points, pass/fail points) and graded summative (i.e. test) scores.

  1. Formative or "completion" scores are NOT graded and are designed to help students and parents keep track of progress and "effort" by the student within the targeted time period. These scores are either all-or-nothing scores and include homework assignments, completion points of an online quiz, or turning in a program by the due date. Students will be provided the answers (after the due date or completion of formative assessment) to help identify any mistakes by the student for future summative assessments (i.e. tests). While formative scores may be used for Pass/Fail (i.e. all or nothing points) of a course, they are explicitely not useful for determining a student's level of understanding of course content or mastery as students may be given help/answers prior to completing (i.e. they are not for grades that are useful for "levels" of understanding).

  2. Summative (i.e. test) scores are designed to identify what skills and content knowledge have been mastered up to that point in the students progression through the course. Solutions to the summative assesments are usually NOT provided as the scores are NOT designed for student improvement of content understanding. These scores will be the primary determination of grades beyond pass/fail or "D" and are appropriate for comparision between peer groups (peer groups may be in the same class, course, school, state, country, or world-wide).

•  

• Semester Scores are calculated using the following table:

• Semester Score Component	Semester Score Weight
  1st & 2nd Quarter Progress Scores	80%
  Semester Final Exam	20%

•  

• Assessment Categories	Approximate Weights
  Lab Assignments (i.e. Programs)	50%
  Tests (& Quizzes)	50%
  1 Day Late: (doubles every day thereafter)	-5%

• Grades will be calculated on a total point basis.

• Grades will primarily be based on individual ability, understanding, and accomplishment.

• Percentage Scale	Grade Letter
  100% - 88%	A
  87.99% - 76%	B
  75.99% - 64%	C
  63.99% - 52%	D
  51.99% - 1%	F
  0.99% - 0%	Incomplete

• Grading of programs will consist of two parts:
  1. Program Logic -- does the program work?
  2. Program Style -- does the program follow the "Program Expectations"?

  Program Expectations:

  1. Before writing your programs, create and show Mr. M your design.
  2. Comment appropriately.
  1. All comments must be complete, grammatically correct sentences.
  2. see the JavaDoc Conventions for details.
  3. All non-local identifiers (i.e. fields variable, classes, and methods) must be meaningful and may NOT be abbreviated.
  1. Examples: side, hypotenuse, Deck, getName()
  2. Not: sd, hyp, Dck or getN().
  4. Indent the program consistently.
  5. There may be other Program Expectations at various times throughout the course.

Policy & Practices : Student & Teacher Responsibilities

• In Seat & Ready to Go when bell stops (i.e. books, sharpened pencils, paper)
• Respectful of Teacher and Each Other (i.e. raise your hand, don't talk while teacher is talking, no rudeness or bad language, etc.)
• The two most important ingredients for success in this class are practice and attendance.
• No eating or drinking in class, 2 bathroom/drinking trips per Semester.
• Maintain at least 3 backup copies of all work. A "lost" or "destroyed" program will receive zero credit.
• Remember that, for every hour spent in class, 2 hours of outside class work (homework/projects) are typical for an AP course (i.e. 5 hours in class per week + 10 hours at home)

Responsibilities while absent:

Curricular Alignment with College Board's Course and Exam Description (CED) for AP CSP

Advice & Expectations

• Use mechanical pencils (have at least 2).
• Keep an organized notebook and a folder with all your assignments. Get two classmates’ phone numbers in case you need help.
• You will need to purchase a flash drive or other storage device for this class.
• Students must keep multiple backup copies of all work. It is the student's responsibility to be aware that technology is NOT perfect.
• If purchasing a disk/flashdrive is a problem, let me know
• WEBSITE for Assignments is http://www.meinzeit.com
• This class is a COLLEGE COURSE, it requires a great deal of self-discipline. It is easy to be social and not get work done. This is especially true in the first quarter when things seem easiest WARNING! If you do not keep up, you will fall behind and NEVER catch up.

What can I expect from the teacher ?

• You can expect the teacher to maintain a classroom atmosphere that is safe and conducive to the education of ALL students. Any student or group of students prevent or disrupt this will be discipline as outlined above.
• I will try to be available before and after school either in the classroom or in my office in Room 310 for extra help [unless a meeting is scheduled].
• I can be reached at EHS: jmeinzen@ecusd7.org or 656-7100.
• As well, I strongly encourage students and parents to contact me as soon as possible if there are any questions or difficulties.
• In general, I provide daily information on this website and I contact parents/guardians/students via the email address that is registered with the district. However, please let me know if you wish to be contacted by other means on this form. After you have read over this classroom policy, please sign below, and return to me to be put on file. This is your first assignment.

Resources : Required for student use at remote site (i.e. home or laptop)

1. Internet for submission of assignments and/or downloading of content (i.e. pdf files, online textbook, video recordings, etc.)

2. Computer : laptop or desktop running MS Windows, Apple OSX, or Linux. Chromebooks or other browser-based operating systems will NOT be sufficient.

3. Java : Eclipse Integrated Development Kit (IDK) at www.eclipse.org

4. Private Websites with login credentials including username and password :

   1. Schoology : https://ecusd7.schoology.com : access to scheduled assignments specific to online scoring and/or grades

   2. AP Classroom : https://myap.collegeboard.org : access to AP course (need "join-code" from teacher) and assignments specific to online scoring

5. Public Websites that contain "free" content :

   1. Teacher website : http://www.meinzeit.com : access to course syllabus, classroom policies, lecture notes & assignments for planning purposes.

   2. School / District website : http://www.ecusd7.org/ehs : access to school policies and general information

   3. College Board : https://apcentral.collegeboard.org : access to information specific to AP courses

   4. Other websites as needed (posted either on teacher website or Schoology) for viewing supplemental videos, lectures, examples, etc.

General APCS Information

• AP CS A - official Course Description

• www.apcentral.collegeboard.com - AP Exam Information & previous Free Response questions

• Model Curriculum from ACM & CSTA (Computer Science Teachers Association)

• java.oracle.com - Oracle's website to download Java Programming Language (freeware)

• http://www.horstmann.com/gridworld/extending-gridworld.html - Modification of GridWorld for other Games

IDE's (editors)

• www.textpad.com - Textpad Editor (shareware)

• www.eclipse.org - Eclipse IDE (freeware)

• Eclipse Tutorials

• NotePad++ - text editor (freeware) with instructions to compile and run programs in Java

• www.netbeans.org - Netbeans IDE (freeware)

Competition Information

• Univ. of Evansville Computer Science Contest

• Useful code & samples of Console and Files Input/Output as well as String Manipulation [see tabs on top right side of webpage]

• FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) and Edwardsville Robotics and E'ville Tech - FRC Team 4931

• Zero Robotics - NASA, MIT, DARPA's 2011 International Space Station robotics competition

Practice and Problem-solving

• www.cs.princeton.edu/introcs/assignments/ - Interesting assignments using Java & Computer Science

• nifty.stanford.edu/ - Nifty assignments from the last several years

• www.javabat.com - Practice in Java & Computer Science...fun & challenging

• Project Euler - Progressively more difficult Math Problems that can be solved via Programming

• WYSE - Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering, practice tests for username: coach (kR5Ensin)

Other Sites

• Public Risks due to Computer Science (who are these people?)

• Java Reference (2007)

• Top 25 Dangerous Errors that Programmers make that lead to Security Bugs in software.

• University Lectures on a Variety of Topics

Java Library Programs

• Shortest Path Algorithm Description & Program (weighted Graph)